The Only Thing Quotes

The only thing left worth saving is wilderness. ~ Edward Abbey

I do not want to give my power, my self-esteem, or my autonomy, to any person, place, or thing outside myself. [ ... ] The only thing that matters is how I feel about myself, my personal integrity, and my relationship with my Creator. ~ Ashley Judd

The human heart is the only thing in this world that weighs more when it is broken ~ Michael Xavier

Ree is his. Is his, is devoted to him, is aggravatingly tender and possessively passionate and wrapped up in him in a thousand ways, loves him in a way that is very useful. It seems a law of nature, at this point. Even if the events of this startling evening have served to give him pause, a little. But Ree is still his. He's fairly sure. Such complex knots can't be untied so quickly, can they?

Still, it's not the only thing disturbing him, about the Dam's account of early events. She laughs when she sees his face, his sidewise look at her description, and there's definitely a mean note to it. "Oh, it was darling," she says, and he gets the feeling of a caged animal stuck behind bars, while a cruel child pokes at it. "You were enchanted by his wolf, would follow it anywhere, welcome or not, though mostly he tolerated it. But you couldn't manage his name – and a nickname hadn't stuck at that point – so instead you imitated the sound he made. Rather insultingly, too, if not intentionally – Ruff. Or Woof, or whatever it was that you intended to say, except that it actually came out as Wuff. Or Wuffy, depending, and at varying pitches and volume as you ran after him, falling down and rolling about half the time."

Penn is transfixed. It's outrageous, it's an outrage. It can't possibly be true. It was nothing like that. ~ Alex Ankarr

I've filled my whole life trying to preserve the memory of living, in the fight against dying. Perhaps the only thing I've done, since stopping death is impossible, is to show this fight. The fight itself does not satisfy us either. ~ Christian Boltanski

They talk too much for me. They have worries, aims, desires, that I cannot understand. I often sit with one of them in the little beer garden and try to explain to him that this is really the only thing: just to sit quietly, like this. They understand of course, they agree, they may even feel it so too, but only with words, only with words, yes, that is it--they feel it, but always with only half of themselves, the rest of their being is taken up with other things, they are so divided in themselves that none feels it with his whole; I cannot even say myself exactly what I mean. ~ Erich Maria Remarque

...the only thing that could justify your continuing existence on the planet would be if you started breathing carbon dioxide and exhaling oxygen. ~ Yrsa Sigurdardottir

What we're really sending you to Harvard for is to get a little of the educations that's so good and plenty there. When it's passed around you don't want to be bashful, but reach right out and take a big helping every time, for I want you to get your share. You;ll find that education's about the only thing lying around loose in this world, and that it's about the only things a fellow can have as much of as he's willing to haul away. ~ George Horace Lorimer

The only thing that can grow is the thing you give energy to. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

The only thing that counts is your dedication to the game. You run on your own fuel; it comes from within you. ~ Paul Brown

I think Churchill is right, the only thing to be said for democracy is that there is nothing else that's any better, and therefore he used to say, Tyranny tempered by assassination, but lots of assassination. People say, If the Congress were more representative of the people it would be better. I say the Congress is too damn representative. It's just as stupid as the people are; just as uneducated, just as dumb, just as selfish. ~ Dean Acheson

Many people think that love represents chains, bondage, the opposite of freedom. But people who believe such things are simple-minded creatures who have been lied to, and who easily accept the general trend of the lie. It is in fact love that is the only thing powerful enough to set one free from even the most deeply-embedded and thoroughly-wound chains of the soul, the mind, and the body. The fact is that we are born into chains and born into bondages; these things are put upon us by fear, pain and doubt. When you are thoroughly loved by someone in mind and in heart, this has the power to set you so free, more free than you have ever been before. And that is because freedom is not the equivalent of detachment. Freedom is the equivalent of that which sets you free. And when someone loves you the way that only they can, that is what sets you free. ~ C. JoyBell C.

The only thing I don't have is hips. ~ Estelle

Perhaps I'm old and tired, but I think that the chances of finding out what's actually going on are so absurdly remote that the only thing to do is to say, "Hang the sense of it," and keep yourself busy. I'd much rather be happy than right any day. ~ Douglas Adams

Murdoch's gun was the only thing in my life, the only thing worth living for. It gets like that sometimes, with instruments of death. ~ Jeff Noon

How could I have ever thought she was what was wrong in my life? She was the only thing that made any sense, and when she was broken and hurting, so was I. ~ Ella Frank

I am sure that there are some single payer advocates who think the only thing worth fighting for is single payer. ~ Bernie Sanders

A lot of my video work is super lo-fi on purpose. I'm not trying to become technically super proficient. The only thing I'm interested in becoming technically proficient on is my alto saxophone. ~ Matana Roberts

The only thing you find in the middle of the road are dead animals and dumb Americans. ~ Anton Newcombe

It is sad that the air is the only thing we share. No matter how close we get to each other, there is always air between us. ~ Yoko Ono

The only thing I can do is type. I learned that when I was 13. ~ Godfrey Reggio

What you've done isn't the only thing that defines who you are. Words are just as powerful as action. They can aspire action in others, can't they? ~ Erica Crouch

Ladies, the only thing that gives a man the right to touch you is your permission. ~ Carlos Wallace

I wish that you will find love. It is the only thing in life that makes the pain of being alive bearable. ~ Lucinda Riley

Don't ever call me Princess again," she said, head still resting in my shoulder.

"Did I do that?" I asked.

"Yes, you did."

"I don't remember."

"Driving back from Tsujido, that night. Don't say it again."

"I won't. I promise I won't. I swear on Boy George and Duran Duran. Never, never, never again."

"That's what Mama always calls me. Princess."

"I won't call you that again."

"Mama, she's always hurting me. She's just got no idea. And yet she loves me. I know she does."

"Yes, she does."

"So what am I supposed to do?"

"The only thing you can. Grow up."

"I don't want to."

"No other way," I said. "Everyone does, like it or not. People get older. That's how they deal with it. They deal with it till the day they die. It's always been this way. Always will be. It's not just you."

She looked up at me, her face streaked with tears. "Don't you believe in comforting people?"

"I was comforting you."

She brushed my arm from her shoulder and took a tissue from her bag. "There's something really abnormal about you, you know," she said. ~ Haruki Murakami

I'm the only thing I'll ever hold against you. ~ Conway Twitty

I eventually thought, this is the only thing I could do as a profession, I can't really do anything else. ~ Colin Hanks

The only thing that's ours to accept is the fact that we don't always get to know the answers. ~ Sarah Ockler

Too many people have refused to begin running or have quickly dropped out of running programs because they 'have no talent for it.' Ridiculous. Talent has nothing to do with it. The only thing that matters is mental discipline. ~ Amby Burfoot

Tried to escape, to block out the fact that I was being eaten alive by arachnids. For some reason the only thing I could replace it with was the image of being eaten by tiny clowns. ~ David Wong

I don't want to write a book; I don't want to go on T.V., because I stink at it. The only thing I have always been comfortable with is being in magazines. ~ Patti Hansen

Distraction is the only thing that consoles us for miseries and yet it is itself the greatest of our miseries. ~ Blaise Pascal

So I captured Italy ... but the only thing I hear from him is ze singing und ze laughing und vierd accents.
-Germany ~ Hidekaz Himaruya

Her maternal feelings were unlikely to be assuaged by hearing that the marriage had been performed in the middle of the night on a West Indian beach by a disgraced - if not actually defrocked - priest, witnessed by twenty-five seamen, ten French horses, a small flock of sheep - all gaily beribboned in honor of the occasion - and a King Charles spaniel, who added to the generally festive feeling by attempting to copulate with Murphy's wooden leg at every opportunity. The only thing that could make things worse, in Laoghaire's view, would be to hear that I had participated in the ceremony. ~ Diana Gabaldon

Preparing and cooking squid is easier than most fish. The only thing to remember is not to cook it for too long. ~ Yotam Ottolenghi

I'm just following my own art, and I just think that the only thing I can do to be a great artist is do the best job I can in whatever movie I do. ~ Justin Chon

We walked into my mother's house at 10:30 in the morning at the end of February 1992. I had been gone for three weeks. She had been so desperate about us - she, too, looked thin and haggard. She was stunned to see me walk in, filthy and crawling with lice, with a huge crowd of starving people.
We ate and drank clean water; then, before we even washed, I put Marian in a taxi with me and told the driver to go to Nairobi Hospital. We had no money left and I knew Nairobi Hospital was expensive; it was where I had been operated on when the ma'alim broke my skull. But I also knew that there they would help us first and ask to pay later. Saving the baby's life had become the only thing that mattered to me.
At the reception desk I announced, "This baby is going to die," and the nurse's eyes went wide with horror. She took him and put a drip in his arm, and very slowly, this tiny shape seemed to uncrumple slightly. After a little while, his eyes opened.
The nurse said, "The child will live," and told us to deal with the bill at the cash desk. I asked her who her director was, and found him, and told this middle-aged Indian doctor the whole story. I said I couldn't pay the bill. He took it and tore it up. He said it didn't matter. Then he told me how to look after the baby, and where to get rehydration salts, and we took a taxi home.
Ma paid for the taxi and looked at me, her eyes round with respect. "Well done," she said. It was a rare compliment.
In the next ~ Ayaan Hirsi Ali

I'm sorry for always being a screw up. Loving you is the only thing I ever did exactly right. ~ Shayne McClendon

if I stay with him any longer, he'll unstitch me, and I really can't fall apart now. Bitterness is the only thing holding me together. Without it, I'm shapeless. ~ Leisa Rayven

Humor is practically the only thing about which the English are utterly serious. ~ Malcolm Muggeridge

There is no darkness in this place that we're bound
Love is the only thing that matters ~ Dan Fogelberg

In banking or insurance trust is the only thing you have to sell. ~ Patrick Dixon

The only thing that makes advice great is when you apply it and it works so try, try try. ~ Rob Liano

The only thing lacking in any situation is our own awareness of love. ~ Marianne Williamson

Sometimes I get intimidated by people, intellectuals, because I don't have a great education. The only thing I feel helps me compete with all these people, people with degrees from Harvard, that you're thrown in with and have to work with, is that I'm grounded. ~ Andie MacDowell

You put funny people in funny costumes and paint them green and we could talk about anything we wanted to, because that was the only thing that fascinated Gene about this particular genre. ~ Majel Barrett

The only thing I'm sure of is that I've waited entirely too damn long to have you. ~ Maya Banks

Liberty is the only thing you can't have unless you give it to others. ~ William Allen White

It's scary to realize that the only thing holding our friends to us isn't our performance, or our lovability, or their guilt, or their obligation. The only thing that will keep them calling, spending time with us, and putting up with us is love. And that's the one thing we can't control. ~ Henry Cloud

As far as I can tell the only thing worth looking at in most museums of art is all the schoolgirls on daytrips with the art departments. ~ Banksy

Nothing ever gets anywhere. The earth keeps turning round and gets nowhere. The moment is the only thing that counts. ~ Jean Cocteau

The resting place of the mind is the heart. The only thing the mind hears all day is clanging bells and noise and argument, and all it wants is quietude. The only place the mind will ever find peace is inside the silence of the heart. That's where you need to go. ~ Elizabeth Gilbert

He'd done that to her and it woke all the primitive instincts a man in this day and age was supposed to have conquered. Fuck that. The only thing he wanted to conquer was her. ~ Blue Kincaid

The only thing all successful people have in common is that they're successful, so don't waste your time copying "the successful strategies" of others. ~ Seth Godin

The only thing a person of my age can do is fall in love secretly, silently, like
I had done with Mariana. Fall in love knowing that all is lost and there is no hope. ~ Jose Emilio Pacheco

The only thing that is unqualifiedly given is the total pervasive quality; and the objection to calling it "given" is that the word suggests something to which it is given, mind or thought or consciousness or whatever, as well possibly as something that gives. ~ John Dewey

The only thing in this world more irresistible to human beings than greed is curiosity, and the need to know the answers. ~ Luke Smitherd

My ma taught me one thing from the beginning: My body is mine. My own. No one else's. Just because somebody thinks they have rights to it, doesn't make it true. I thought I understood that before, but here, in this place, it's become more clear than ever how right she was. My flesh and blood–it's the only thing I own, and I'll defend it until I can't fight anymore. ~ Kristen Simmons

As a 29-year-old, the only thing that I can possibly think is that if I'm still performing at 50, it's because I'll have had disastrous marriages and I have to pay for them. ~ Robbie Williams

There is wonder in everything, the only thing you need to change to see it is your perspective. ~ Taylor Schake

What we have been told is how we men can be drawn into Christ-can become part of that wonderful present which the young Prince of the universe wants to offer to His Father-that present which is Himself and therefore us in Him. It is the only thing we were made for. And there are strange, exciting hints in the Bible that when we are drawn in, a great many other things in Nature will begin to come right. The bad dream will be over: it will be morning. ~ C.S. Lewis

Writing with you is the only thing that keeps me alive. ~ David Hackworth

The parts of humanity that use to be civil are dead and gone. The only thing left is a technological, emotionless, colorless, dead version of reality we live in every day. ~ James Wheeler

This was Susan's second round at boot camp. The only thing that kept her coming back was that it helped her shed what everyone called the 'Dubai stone', a whopping 14 pounds. She had gained it since moving to the most glamorous place on earth, with lots of temptation and not too much work. After she and her husband had moved to Dubai, she had decided to take a break from the psychiatric nursing she'd been doing for 13 years. ~ Anne Louise O'Connell

This place was not like the Victorian Prisons of England with their imposing red-brick and neo-gothic architecture that was supposed to impress inmates with the power of the state;no, this place looked cobbled together, shoddy and temporary and the only thing it impressed upon you was how current British policy on Ireland was dominated by short-term thinking. ~ Adrian McKinty

After a minute I leaned back, elbows on the table, and looked up for the twinkle of the first star in the evening sky. When we were little, it was a ritual Finn and I did on the front porch. He'd make his wish silently, and I would too, but I never could keep a secret; and I'd tell him what I wished every time. He'd always tell me it wouldn't come true, but I didn't believe him. I'd had plenty of them come true, from a new box of crayons showing up out of nowhere to a bag of candy left on my bed. It had been a while, though, and the only thing I'd wish for now was impossible. I found the first star in a patch of burnt-orange sky, above the crinkly purple mountains in the distance, and then I wished my brother back anyway. ~ Jessi Kirby

The choice to believe is yours. It's the only thing that truly is. ~ J.S.B. Morse

When you have a child, you start to dream of how this kid will grow up and make you proud. The only thing you can predict with 100% certainty is that the reality will diverge somehow from that dream. Some of our children will disappoint us by not being the scholars we hoped they would be. Some children will disappoint us by not being the athletes we hoped they would be. Some will disappoint us by coming out and telling us they are gay and they won't give us grandchildren ... the real question is not, what book can I read, what technique can I use to raise a perfect child? The real question is how will you handle that gap between the child you dreamt of having and the real child growing up in your home ... What I have learned is that any religion, if you do it wrong, will leave people feeling condemned and dismissed and unworthy and any religion, if you do it right, will leave people feeling cleansed and firmed. (118) Rabbi Harold Kushner ~ Carol Lynn Pearson

Loving can hurt
Loving can hurt sometimes
But it's the only thing that I know ~ Anonymous

Thus, it does not seem clear (to us) that there is truly a unified research program here, under the name of materialism. The apparent consensus could be something of a mirage, with the only thing holding it together being a denial of the Soul Hypothesis. If so, it begins to look more like a shared assumption than a shared discovery. And of course there can be consensuses based on fashion and the spirit of the age, as well as consensuses based on observation and reason. Even scientists must always be on guard to make sure they are part of the latter rather than the former. The honorable mantle of the scientist conveys no inherent infallibility in this regard. ~ Mark C. Baker

The imagination is the medium of appreciation in every field. The engagement of the imagination is the only thing that makes any activity more than mechanical. Unfortunately, it is too customary to identify the imaginative with the imaginary, rather than with a warm and intimate taking in of the full scope of a situation. ~ John Dewey

Not all mistake deserves a consequence. Sometimes the only thing it deserves is forgiveness. ~ Colleen Hoover

It is crucial that a healthy scepticism be applied when interpreting potentially miraculous events, lest the integrity and rationality of the religious perspective be brought into question. The only thing that will kill the possibility of miracles more quickly than a committed materialism is the claiming of miracle status for everyday events for which natural explanations are readily at hand.4 ~ John C. Lennox

When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. ~ Anonymous

life is not fair and love is not enough, but it is the only thing worth pursueing ~ John Gorka

The only thing scarier than leaving a small town is never leaving it at all. ~ Mitch Albom

Details are the only thing that separates one movie from another. ~ Campbell Scott

Liberty is the only thing you cannot have unless you are willing to give it to others. ~ William Allen White

Love is a priceless gift. This is the only thing we can give and yet - it is all you have left... ~ Leo Tolstoy

I am not and will never again be a young writer, a young homeowner, a young teacher. I was never a young wife. The only thing I could do now for which my youth would be a truly notable feature would be to die. If I died now, I'd die young. Everything else, I'm doing middle-aged. ~ Meghan Daum

So I pointed at the sun ascending in the horizon. Just as the darkened sky began to lighten. "Keep your eyes there." Her green ones flickered to me before following my finger. Her pulse picked up speed. "And what happens when it disappears?" I would've loved to tell her that it never would. That no matter where we were the sun would always be present. But it wouldn't have been true. The only thing we could count on was that the sun would rise again. "Wait for it to return," I told her. ~ Krista Ritchie

Since the Americans have ceased to have dyspepsia, they have lost the only thing that gave them any expression. ~ Edith Wharton

Women want their men to be cops. They want you to punish them and tell them what the limits are. The only thing that women hate worse from a man than being slapped is when you get on your knees and say you're sorry. ~ Mort Sahl

The only thing that can make a man do something he doesn't like is guilt ~ Ayn Rand

The only thing worse than an active conscience is one that's retroactive. ~ Harold Coffin

I really was alone, and the only thing worse than being alone was having everyone else see how lonely you were ~ Kami Garcia

I know I get you to myself all the time, but ... but ... ." There was an uneven touch in Quentin's hair, and Quentin almost stopped breathing. "You're the only thing I've wanted. I wanted my degree, but, you know, that came sort of easy. I wanted a business, and we've done that. And the whole time ... hell, even before we had our first class together ... before
our first study group, before we got dorm assignments ... all I wanted
was you. ~ Amy Lane

Maybe the only thing I can definitely say about is this: That's life. Maybe the only thing we can do is accept it, without really knowing what's going on. ~ Haruki Murakami

Incentives aren't the only thing that matter for economic growth. Opportunity is also crucial, and extreme inequality deprives many people of the opportunity to fulfill their potential, and government programs that reduce inequality can make the nation as a whole richer by reducing that waste. ~ Paul Krugman

The only thing that consoles me is to be surrounded by people as depressed as I am. The readers down here, they're seriously depressed and that cheers me up. You yourself for instance, if I can put this politely, you don't exactly look like a bundle of laughs. No, don't pretend, I can see right through you. ~ Sophie Divry

I've often thought that my scruples about stealing books were the only thing that stood in the way of my being a really great scholar. ~ Malcolm Bradbury

Given our new situation, I think you should find a more appropriate way to address me Polly. Do so now please."

I don't even have to think. An invisible shroud of submission seems to have fallen over me and the prospect of surrendering to this beautiful creature is the only thing on my mind, because I do – absolutely – want her to fuck me, and I have never wanted anything so much… ~ Felicity Brandon

What distinguishes consciousness of self
from the world of nature is not the simple act of contemplation by which it identifies itself with the
exterior world and finds oblivion, but the desire it can feel with regard to the world. This desire reestablishes
its identity when it demonstrates that the exterior world is something apart. In its desire, the
exterior world consists of what it does not possess, but which nevertheless exists, and of what it would
like to exist but which no longer does. Consciousness of self is therefore, of necessity, desire. But in order
to exist it must be satisfied, and it can only be satisfied by the gratification of its desire. It therefore acts in
order to gratify itself and, in so doing, it denies and suppresses its means of gratification. It is the epitome
of negation. To act is to destroy in order to give birth to the spiritual reality of consciousness. But to
destroy an object unconsciously, as meat is destroyed, for example, in the act of eating, is a purely animal
activity. To consume is not yet to be conscious. Desire for consciousness must be directed toward
something other than unconscious nature. The only thing in the world that is distinct from nature is,
precisely, self-consciousness. Therefore desire must be centered upon another form of desire; selfconsciousness
must be gratified by another form of self-consciousness. In simple words, man is not
recognized - and ~ Albert Camus

Then the lion said – but I don't know if it spoke – You will have to let me undress you. I was afraid of his claws, I can tell you, but I was pretty nearly desperate now. So I just lay flat down on my back to let him do it.

"The very first tear he made was so deep and I thought it had gone right into my heart. And when he began pulling the skin off, it hurt worse than anything I've ever felt. The only thing that made me able to bear it was just the pleasure of feeling the stuff peel off. You know – if you've ever picked the scab of a sore place. It hurts like billy-oh but it is such fun to see it coming away. ~ C.S. Lewis

The only thing I need is the chance she's now willing to give me. I can finally show her the man I am now. I can make up for all the hurt I've caused her. All the pain. I'll earn her friendship before offering her my life. It's hers anyway. She just needs to take it. ~ J. Daniels

The sixth deadly sin is named by the church acedia or sloth. In the world it calls itself tolerance; but in hell it is called despair. It is the accomplice of the other sins and their worst punishment. It is the sin that believes in nothing, cares for nothing, seeks to know nothing, interferes with nothing, enjoys nothing, loves nothing, hates nothing, finds purpose in nothing, lives for nothing, and remains alive only because there is nothing it would die for. We have known it far too well for many years. The only thing perhaps that we have not known about it is that it is a mortal sin. ~ Dorothy L. Sayers

The way you get to know yourself is by the expressions on other people's faces, because that's the only thing that you can see, unless you carry a mirror about. ~ Gil Scott-Heron

Life never follows your plan.
The truth was you could spend countless hours planning and preparing, and the only thing you could count on once you'd got your plan set was that it would be the one way things won't happen. ~ Penelope Douglas

The only thing I knew for sure at that moment was that David would be back.If I was gone when that happened, would he leave again? For good?
David, do you know that's a chance I can't take? ~ Jennifer Castle

The only thing we have learnt from experience is that we learn nothing from experience. ~ Chinua Achebe